Bits and Pieces

Since I've not focused my energies on any one project in the last 5-6 weeks, I seem to have bits of news on several fronts. It makes perfect sense, then, to catch up on some of those items, then perhaps I will turn my attention to more focused objectives.

First, to update the previous post, I have delivered all the dresses to their respective homes, and have one picture of a granddaughter actually wearing her new dress - Reagan, our 19-month-old middle grandchild, wanted to wear hers straight away. It fits her perfectly and her momma requests more - with one addition. Add two pockets, rather than one. Reagan was totally pumped to put things in her pocket and kept searching her other side for another one. No problem! I can put two pocket on all future dresses!

In other activities around here, I've been continuing efforts at straightening up my sewing/quilting room. I've always had the ability to work in the midst of a fair amount of clutter, however the situation had gotten too far gone for even me and my loose standards. *grin* Finding a surface to iron, to cut, to sew, and sometimes even to sit had gotten near impossible. 

Things are looking a lot better now. Below is the table top where Sharon normally has her machine when we sew. Sadly, it's been many months since I've seen the top of that table. 

Most of that has been dealt with - sorted or finished or trashed. Here's a picture of similar haphazard piles on the floor.

I'd already made progress when I took this picture; the reason I know is because carpet is showing. There was a time when you couldn't see the carpet for the debris spread around. Clockwise in this photo: Grinch Christmas fabric at the top; Ohio State novelty fabric; more Christmas fabric at the 3:00 position; miscellaneous EPP at 8:00; a pillow cover salvaged from a pillow given to us as a wedding present (1979!); a pile of batiks at 11:00. In the center is a tub of floral scraps; from these remnants, I'm making random blocks hoping for inspiration as I stitch. All in this photo now has been put away in designated, well-labeled tubs. 

I had sevearal items that simply needed very minimal attention to have them completed and out of my way. I focused heavily on those as I worked through the clutter. It has been quite successful, thankfully, and the weight of it all feels lighter. I like knowing that I've seen the last of these and now can more eagerly look forward to new projects.

This table in my front room had gone without decor all winter. I found a stack of HSTs in the sewing scraps, and rather than hide them away in a drawer or bag, I went straight to the machine and stitched them together to make this wonderful little table topper. 

The HSTs were leftovers from Cotton Ridge Farm, which I made last summer. I knew I'd made extra for the double sawtooth borders; this table topper is a perfect way to use up the excess.  

One really easy item to check off my list was to find a piece of yardage from my bin of red fabrics that would be suitable for a slip cover on my front porch wicker bench. Since our shutters and front door are deep red/burgandy, I've always used rugs and pillows in the same colorway; I needed a slip cover to add to the look and I think this works nicely. 

Lord only knows how long I've had this fabric or what I planned for using it. The selvage says its Hyde Park by Jo Gregg/Northcott. I'd say it's very well aged.

I altered a pair of shorts for DH (no picture for that!), and I replaced a hatband on this thrift store find from Florida.  

I had a stack of some long-forgotten project bits that I seemed unable to toss. I made myself sit down and figure out what I was doing, and came up with this little fabric tray.

I will finish the other 7 and have a nice little gift for participants at our next retreat. I'm glad I had the mindset to keep them and not throw them away.

I know this will be hard to believe, but I also uncovered some long forgotten (and deeply buried) projects like the embroidery above. I have no idea why I stopped working on it; I located the book straight away and have taken some stitches on it. I hope I can regain my steam and finish it.

If I can make myself stay at it, I will have a nice addition to my autumn decor. Stay tuned for updates as I progress on that journey.

Finally, I will show you one box of scrap management. I've not done this in quite awhile, so I have a couple more boxes waiting to be done. Because space was so limited in the quilting room, I brought this downstairs to the kitchen island to be cut into my standard working bits - squares and strips in 3 sizes: 1.5 inches, 2 inches, and 2.5 inches. If there were any larger pieces available, I cut 15" X 5" - the size for the little card wallets I've been making. I enjoy making them and using scraps is perfect.

That completes the summing up of my sewing-related endeavors in the past few weeks. It's not all been drudgery of sorting and straightening. We've interspersed some fun visits with friends and little trips here and there. We've got a flooring project underway here at the homestead, so we're jumping on carpet removal today. (ugh)  

I hope all you moms had a wonderful Mother's Day! I spent time with my sweet momma yesterday afternoon, and either spoke with or had texts with all three of my children. We saw both daughters on Saturday, so my cup runneth over, indeed.

Have a wonderful week, and 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

A HUGE Change

 In the ongoing tidying of the quilting room, I have made a small change that has provided maximum impact. The action detailed here has yielded a couple of positives, actually.

For about 10 years now, I have had my grandmother's sewing kit sitting next to my sewing table. I rarely need to get into the kit for anything, but lately when I've needed more specific thread color, I've checked the vast thread supply in her kit. 

Click here to see the kit opened up; click here to see more detailed pics of the contents.

Lately, whenever I touch Grandma's kit, a piece of veneer peels off. It's been loose, but now whatever glue was under there is completely gone, and the veneer is coming off in large strips. Not wanting to cause any further damage, I selected what I considered to be the most treasured items from Grandma's kit to store elsewhere. Then I and put her kit away until I figure out how to go about repairs. And yes, those pieces of veneer were saved for the eventual repair.

This brings me to benefit #1: with her kit out of the way, I have opened up some space in my quilting room. I will try really hard not to fill that space with new piles of "stuff." 

Let me show you how I am dealing with the treasures I removed from Grandma's sewing kit.This is benefit #2 - displays as opposed to dusty piles. Another benefit of cleaning the sewing room is that I now have tidy, clean spaces for display purposes! Who'd have ever thought that was a possibility?!!?

For years, I've had a refurbished dresser behind Sharon's sewing table. And for years, the dresser top has been nothing more than a catch-all. I kid you not - there has been the unfinished parts of a tote bag on that dresser top gathering dust for about 4 years. The depth of the dust on this project was staggering; I'm still sneezing. 

This is a before/after composite of the dresser. Stored here are myriad craft items for anything NOT related to quilting.

No more dusty mess atop this dresser! Now, this dresser top is all spiffed up with these apothecary jars full of Grandma's goodies.

I intend to write at least one more post about the benefits of cleaning my quilting room. I am not yet ready to show anyone the top of my cutting table, but scrap management is ongoing. I won't ever get it 100% done, but I am making progress.

Happy Monday, Dear Friends, and Happy Quilting!

A Daunting Task

It all began with a search in my sewing room for one particular fabric. If you recall, in my attempt to make progress on Lake Effect, I needed to make more hexies. I found the necessary fabrics and went to work making a few hundred more. 

However, one fabric in particular was missing from the collection and believing it was necessary to include it, I began a basic search of my sewing room.

Arrow points to fabric I am trying to find.

 

You know, searching comes in a couple of different forms. One is the basic glance through this or that tub, or in this or that little pile which usually results in finding the desired item. I did this type of searching for about three days. I'd look for awhile, then stop, moving on to other tasks. But my mind continued pondering possible places I could have put the piece of fabric. 

Because you know about me, my fabric stash and my penchant for keeping all scraps, I wouldn't have thrown it out, and I am sure I didn't use it for any other project.

So I returned, tackling previously unsearched places.

By the third or fourth day, I was driving myself crazy trying to find this fabric, and that is when the simple search ended up becoming so much more. I was becoming really agitated with the fruitlessness of my searching. 

Note the sprinkling of the dark print.

And so the next-level searching began. We are talking deep, dig-in-the-back-of-the cupboard  and pull-out-all-the-tubs stuff here, folks. I am finding things that have been buried for decades.

And no, I have not found the fabric I was looking for. 

 

However, all is not lost. I have accomplished something significant - my sewing room is getting some long-avoided attention. It both thrills me to be tackling this, but also overwhelms me to accept the reality and impossibility of beginning new projects alongside those that need finishing (UFOs). 

For proof that progress is being made, I will share this tub full of empty tubs. Formerly, all these contained miscellaneous items - fabric, projects, remnants from projects, etc. I consolidated huge amounts of items; in other words, I actually dealt with them. Instead of a temporary plastic tub for a home, I moved things to the real home - what a novel idea! Years of stop-gap measures have been corrected for the long-term solutions. 

I intend to explain with more depth a few of these in future posts.

And yes, I know, the truly long-term solutions involve FINISHING what I start!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Clutter-Bug Remedies

 Never in my life of 60+years have I ever been referred to as a neat freak. More often than not, I live in perpetual clutter with a healthy dose of dust, just for effect.

If you have been with me here these past 4-5 weeks, you know that I am attempting to bring some order to my sewing room. Click this link to read some specifics.

Now let's address the conditions typically found on my sewing desk. Cluttered? Messy? Precariously piled? All of the above? Yes. (I once had a student refer to my desk as a 'black hole.') This truly has been a life-long tendency.

The photo above is from at least a couple of years ago, and perhaps I have tidied the desk once since then, but as late as last weekend, the situation looked much the same.

I am happy to report that the desk - at present - is sparkly clean! Have a look!

I love this! Why I have such a hard time keeping it like this mystifies me, but man-oh-man, this feels soooo good.

Messy Jayne went a step further in the cleaning process. There are 5 pincushions there on the clean desk. That is at least 3 too many. And they are all quite dusty and linty. I actually cleaned pincushions, if you can believe that.

My friend Sheryll made these pincushions (and a needle book). I use them a lot, and they'd become so dusty. I pulled out all the pins, needles, etc. and actually used an attachment on my sweeper to clean off the dust. What a difference!

I have set aside these two pincushions and will use them another time. I don't need so many out at once.

Now, I not only have a clean, useable surface at my desk, I have less clutter by putting things away, and I can keep nice things longer by taking better care.

Can old dogs learn new tricks??

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Organizing the Fat Quarters

In the continuing saga of straightening up my sewing room, I have a pretty nice little set up for my fat quarters which I have been using for many years.

Now it's new and improved.

This little dresser (chest of drawers) is packed full of fabric. The top drawer is where I have most of my fat quarter packs - those complete sets of fabrics of a single line. Some are getting to be almost vintage, I fear. Also, some charm packs are there, and other groupings by designer or line.

The second, third and fifth drawers all contain fat quarters, sorted mostly by color. I have a small section in the second drawer with some groupings - see the front left of the second drawer, - but mostly the FQs are color-ordered. It took me forever to get this task accomplished. For the last many years, I have been super-duper lazy about orderly storage. I had haphazardly stuffed pieces into drawers, paying no attention to color; if space was available, and I had a handful of FQs, I packed 'em in there. 

In the 4th drawer, I had some larger cuts of fabric - these are mostly 1-yard cuts - and since that's where they were and it worked nicely enough, I just left them there. I am reconsidering that decision, now though, as I keep finding FQs in various tubs, and the other drawers are all full. I may end up moving those larger cuts into the tubs that contain yardage fabrics.

I am pleased with my progress. My goal to clean off the cutting table by today was met, mostly. I had an ulterior motive for the goal - Sharon was coming to sew, and I thought she might need space to cut. I knew I would be cutting out a new project, one that she, too, will be starting. I had to make space for her, just in case.

I still have some items sitting out down at that far end, but those are the scrap-busting tubs and baskets that remain on my immediate agenda. I didn't work on any of that today, but I do plan to return to scrap management steadily over the next few weeks, if not longer. (I have a lot, a l-o-t of scraps.)

Bit by bit, I am making significant in-roads in the fight against clutter in this sewing room. I will bring another episode next time I post. 

I have other exciting things to bring to the blog (exciting?? well...) and since I am not teaching this semester, I hope I will get back to a more regular posting schedule. I really have slacked off in the past year or so, and there's no time like the present to correct that situation.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Cleaning, Storage, and Scrap Management

 I have spent a good portion of the last three days attempting to clean off my cutting table. The sad fact of the matter is that I have an 8-foot table, and only about 18 inches of available space for cutting. 

Bad. Very bad.

I took this picture after doing quite a bit of tidying and it still looks pretty much untouched.

The available area clean enough for me to cut is just outside the photo on the lower left side. That entire long end has been stacked and packed with fabric, past projects, and miscellaneous accumulations for absolutely ages. I can't even fathom a guess as to how long it's been since I last saw the actual table surface buried under all this stuff. And the picture above is after I've already cleared quite a bit.

Of course, as is typical when attacking a big job leads, it naturally leads to attacking others. All the fabric piled up there had to be put somewhere. So first I dealt with fat quarters. I have for a long time kept most of my fat quarters stored in a dresser, originally in color order. In recent years, the order had become a bit chaotic, and I had all the colors mixed up and scraps mixed in, as well. So that needed to be addressed.

So, over the next day or two, I will delve a little deeper into how I've been managing this cleaning effort. It involves organizing the contents of the dresser below, as well as a lot of managing of excessive scraps. 

I will illustrate the work that awaits me: here's the picture above with some added mark-ups.

The blue arrow shows you the very next thing I will do - cut these scraps into usable squares or strips. The yellow circle indicates a tub of scraps waiting for the same - cutting into squares or strips. The green arrow indicates a stack of patterns that need to be filed. The orange arrow indicates a stack of fabric - larger cuts - that need to be put away.

A side note: in that yellow circle you will see two fabrics on top - orange and lavender. To illustrate how long it takes for me to deal with scraps, those are from 2011 when our youngest was a high school senior; those fabrics are from the costumes she wore in the school musical. Yeah, that is a fair example of my inability to deal with scraps. I will further explain, these have NOT been ON the table; I cleared out an area under the table (how one thing leads to another, you know), and those scraps were in a tub with some random fat quarters. Makes no sense, but that is a pretty fair representation of my lack of organizational skills.

Wanna' come help?? 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Clean-ish Space

When the year began, one of my main goals was to clean, purge and organize in my sewing room. That's a big order, for I am known to work amongst the clutter and piles and messes. Tidiness is not my forte, in other words.

The picture above is a typical look. This hinders productivity, doggone it. I know this, and since the key part of that is "productivity," the need for some serious clutter-busting has been necessary.

The best cure for a messy space is to have company, and last month Sharon came for a day of sewing. She told me beforehand what she wanted to work on, and I knew she needed table space. So take a look at this!

That clean table was the result of a lot of hard work, and already I have it somewhat cluttered up again. (But not so bad that a few focused minutes couldn't take care of the existing stuff.) A table as clean as the one above simply screams of project creating! A mental weight is lifted when a space is tidy and organized. I would do well to remember this.

The space does show areas that still need to be addressed; I have marked them with arrows. The first arrow points to a stack of empty tubs, baskets and boxes that have been freed up in recent weeks. I need to find a place to store these for future use.

Number 2 arrow is the top of a dresser where many pre-cuts are stacked up. I need to put these in a drawer of the dresser, or use one of those empty tubs. Whichever route I go, the space needs tidying and it would be an easy, fast fix.

Number 3 arrow will be an involved endeavor - a pile of scraps that should be sorted, pressed and cut to a useable size. Of course, 2.5-inch strips or squares is the preferred size, and that will always be my go-to for dealing with scraps. But oh lord, how time-consuming it will be!

Seeing these pics with the clean table make me realize I have never shared the Chock Full O' Charms quilt that Sharon finished when we were last together; perhaps that will be coming up this week. Stay tuned!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Hello, September

Well, gee whiz. Here we find ourselves greeting the 9th month of 2017 - I swear it was just no time ago that we rang in the new year, true?

The picture above is one I took on a recent walk on the Greenfield bike path. We looked up the name of that pretty purple wildflower - Blue Lobelia (lobelia siphilitica). This is one of many varieties of lobelia; this one is noted for being a late summer bloomer.

I have created a collage to wrap up some of the highlights of August, and I have made my list for September. First, the August collage.

The Sunbonnet Sue quilt and the T-Shirt quilt were commissions that I finished and delivered. The center picture in the top row represents the longarm quilting I dabbled in when completing the t-shirt quilt. That day was possibly a highlight of the year, so far. Then I included the fantastic concert we went to at Riverbend - we saw Foreigner, Cheap Trick and Led Zeppelin Experience. In the second row, I've got a few of the stars made for our block swap, a picture taken during the eclipse, and our Frienzies party for the month. We went to Susan's where we painted sunflowers and swam. Love those girls, and I love that we make a real effort to get together every month. The last two pictures are UFO-related. The hexie table-topper is my August UFO, completed, and finally, the unfinished June UFO, still trying to become a medallion quilt.

From the accomplishments (or near-accomplishments, as it were) of August, let's move to the goals for September. Without the pressures of commissions, I ought to be able to get most of these done.

Items 1-10 are going to be all the fun stuff; that daggone item 11 is the one that will give me grief. I am such a clutter-bug; I have no trouble at all with working in clutter, and stepping around and over things. Two little piles can be plopped into one big pile, just as easy as can be, and then more piles added to that. I've always been this way. It has gotten to a point, however, that even I am finding it to be difficult to work efficiently. So I have taken one space - the desk area on my left as I sit here at the laptop, and I have tidied it up. I've put much of it in the trash (yay!), and I've put quite a lot in a more suitable place. For example, I had random spools of thread that just needed to be put on the shelf behind me. I had all manner of notepads and sticky notes; they are now contained in a basket dedicated only to note paper. I do expect it will take me a whole month to make any headway on this project, but one bit at a time will be my plan of attack.

Before

After

September is off to a good start, and I sure hope I can see most of those list items checked off come month's end. I hope your month is a productive one, too!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Evidence

I am not a neat-freak.

This recent bout of "let's clean the sewing room" is entirely uncharacteristic of me, but I have to admit, I really like the tidier workspace.

I promised to show some pictures of my efforts, so without further ado, let's take a peek.

Fat quarters (and a few other things) are neatly folded and stored in this chest of drawers.

This illustrates what I see when I open a drawer. Ideally, I will sort these by color, but I don't want to get too OCD about things.

I consolidated quite a few things and ended up emptying all these tubs. That just shows you how disorganized this space had become.

To cut down on the amount of time I spend opening tubs in search of whatever, I labeled most UFOs and other projects so that I could more readily identify without having to dig through a tub to unravel a mystery. This will be a true time-saver.

I am demonstrating hand-quilting today at Greenfield's History Day festivities. It's gonna be cold, blustery and rainy - I suspect that attendance will be off as a result.

Happy Quilting, Friends!